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Crucial bird, bat and bee pollinators are under threat

Birds, bats, bees and other pollinating species vital to food supply are "under threat", according to a team of experts.

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The researchers found that a growing number of pollinator species were being "driven towards extinction by diverse pressures", threatening the livelihoods of millions of people and hundreds of billions of dollars of food supplies.

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Changes in land use, intensive agriculture, pesticide use and climate change are all to blame for the decrease in pollinator numbers, the researchers found. Reports from 2015 echoed these findings -- the International Union for the Conservation of Nature found that almost ten percent of Europe's 2,000 bee species were threatened with extinction.

Pollinating animals, which include bats, birds, bees, butterflies, beetles and moths, help to fertilise more than 75 percent of global food crops. They're also responsible for the fertilisation of nearly 90 percent of the world's flowering plant species. Between £169 billion and £416 billion of the world's annual food production "relies on direct contributions by pollinators". While the findings are alarming, the team of experts said that "simple strategies" could help reverse the trend.

"Without pollinators, many of us would not be able to enjoy chocolate, coffee or vanilla ice cream, or healthy goods like blueberries and brazil nuts," said Lynn Dicks, who works at Cambridge University's Department of Zoology and was involved with authoring the research. "But the value of pollinators goes way beyond this. People's livelihoods and cultures are intimately linked with pollinators around the world."

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The report is now being considered by the IPBES, a platform made up of over 120 governmental bodies from across the world.

Recommendations for helping pollinators include "supporting traditional practices" that manage habitats, educating farmers, scientists, industries and the general public on the danger to pollinating animals and decreasing exposure to pesticides. Some regions have already started projects to protect bees -- in Oslo, "bee highways" of flowers and trees have been built to allow "the safe passage of endangered pollinators through the city". "Pollinators are important contributors to world food production and nutritional security," said Vera Lucia Imperatriz-Fonseca, co-chair of the research. "Their health is directly linked to our own well-being."